Effects of Climatic Variability and Land Use on American Drylands

One area of focus for the project is aeolian dust primarily because of its critical but incompletely understood roles in issues of human health and ecosystem dynamics. This work also bears on air quality and visibility standards, management of lands to minimize wind erosion, transportation safety, and runoff from snowpack-melt. The methods of sampling and study, along with models, developed for North America can be applied to arid lands elsewhere to address the effects of mineral dust on humans and their environment.

We investigate causes and effects of aeolian dust with respect to geologic, ecologic, hydrologic, land-use, climatic, and human-health factors to: